Yesterday evening, I attended the Mt. Hood Community College Board of Education Budget Committee. And, I got my eyes opened.
MHCC full-time faculty are still trying to get a contract, after a year of bargaining. They have authorized a strike, scheduled to start on Thursday, May 12. They are also still having mediation sessions.
What appalled me is that the administration (more than TWICE as many administrators as CCC for a smaller and shrinking student population) insists on balancing the budget on the backs of faculty by cutting salaries, closing fully-enrolled programs and driving students away. The Budget Committee took public testimony yesterday evening. Student after student said that the College’s policies were, or will, drive them away. Several students conducted surveys of other students and reported those results: 100% of 167 students surveyed will NOT return to MHCC if the Administration replaces striking faculty with scabs.
The quality of fiscal management and accountability at MHCC seems to be much lower than at CCC. There also seem to be many costs associated with busting the union which did not show up in the budget information I saw, nor were they reported by the interim CFO last night. Such things as a union-busting attorney who routinely bills over $100 per hour. I felt a keen desire to “follow the money”, and then realized we have our own fight to fight.
All of this led to me an interesting set of mixed feelings: gratitude that CCC’s fiscal management is as responsible and transparent as it is, disgust for the way students and faculty are being treated by MHCC administration.
What I wonder is this: does it have to get as bad at CCC as it is at MHCC before we, as union members, come together for our common good? Or, can we take the hint and get ourselves organized now in visible and audible ways? What do you think?
In solidarity,
Rosemary
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